WARREN — Several suggestions made to Trumbull County commissioners Wednesday about how to save money in the 2025 budget included a temporary reduction in the hours or pay of county officials and employees.

Commissioners for more than a month have been discussing ways to trim its 2025 budget to just over $66.5 million after receiving $81 million in requests from department heads. The county must complete the budgeting process by April 1.

In addition to budget concerns, commissioners also are facing the possibility of increasing water rates for county customers because previous commissioners failed to increase rates when its water suppliers increased their rates in 2019.

Other financial issues being discussed by the commissioners include finding funds to pay for relocating the Trumbull County 911 Center, building a new county dog pound and possibly building a new coroner’s office.

One avenue to address some of the financial issues is increasing the county’s sales tax by 0.25%, which, by some estimates, could raise $2.6 million this year and an average of $8 million per year in future years.

Instead of a sales tax increase, one resident at the weekly commissioners meeting on Wednesday suggested asking some county employees to temporarily reduce their hours from 40 per week to 32 hours per week so the county can reduce its spending and prevent people from being laid off.

Commissioner Chairman Rick Hernandez said it would be up to individual department heads to determine the best ways to balance their budgets.

Trumbull County Recorder Dawn Zinni told the commissioners she is down three positions in her office and she is not expecting to fill them because of the budget concerns. Zinni made what she admits will not be a popular suggestion for county employees or elected officials — taking a temporary 3% pay cut while the county gets its budget under control.

“Maybe we would not have to raise taxes,” she said. “Maybe we can prevent layoffs. It is just a thought.”

However, Trumbull County Human Resources Director Alexandra DeVengencie-Bush told the commissioners they do not have the power to arbitrarily change pay packages on negotiated three-year contracts.

“We have to work with the unions,” she said. “Now, sometimes, the unions would work with us.”

Hernandez said it would take more than a 3% cut to address all of the financial issues facing the county.

He said Trumbull County has the lowest sales taxes of all of its surrounding counties, and he would propose a possible 0.25% sales tax increase that would be used for safety forces, including the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office and the 911 Center.

Howland resident Ed Randall criticized the discussions taking place about the possible increase in the county’s water rates.

“It was not too long ago I was here because the sewer rates increased,” Randall said. “I was told that their costs are going up. Well, all of our costs are going up. We have to figure it out on our own. We can’t just get an 82% increase on our social security or, God willing, if we’re getting a pension.”

Commissioner Denny Malloy said the commissioners must look at the possibility of increasing water rates to address increases the county has absorbed over time from its four water suppliers.

“We can’t just not raise rates when we are paying increased costs,” Malloy said. “Something is going to have to be done one way or another.”

While noting he understands the concerns about the possibility of an increase, he also noted he does not want to pay increasing costs of electricity and gasoline.

“We have no control over these costs,” Malloy said. “But we have been absorbing the county cost increases over the last 15 years and not raising it one dime.”

Commissioner Tony Bernard said he has a lot of questions that must be answered before he would consider approving an increase in the county’s water rates.

Referring to questions brought to the commissioners by former Sanitary Engineer Randy Smith, Bernard noted that much of the county’s revenue losses appear to have been in 2024, instead of over a six-year period as was alluded to in earlier discussions about a possible rate increase.

“We have to do a lot of cost savings and do a lot of research,” Bernard said.

Hernandez said they are mandated by the state to charge customers the rates they are paying to purchase the water.

“You are going to end up in a situation where there is a fiscal emergency,” Hernandez said. “If your water is turned off, what other choice do you have? We feel your pain, but we are going to have to make some moves.”

Bernard said his problem with the situation was that many of the cost increase proposals were presented to the commissioners when Hernandez and himself joined the board in January.

“Where were they in the last five or 10 years before this current board took office,” Bernard said. “A lot of questions need to be answered.”

Bob Maiorano, comptroller at the county’s sanitary department, told commissioners that revised documents have shown the last time the county was making more in revenue than expenses in water distribution was in 2018.

However, since 2019, revenues earned by the county for its water were less than its expenses.

In 2024, the county spent $1,523,208 more for water than it earned in revenue, according to Maiorano. It had approximately $8.5 million in water expenses and just under $7 million in water revenues.

The department has just over $600,000 in carryover to continue paying its water costs.

Maiorano estimates if the commissioners do not increase the water rates to the recommended $12.50 per 1,000 gallons, the county will have a deficit of between $1.2 to $1.6 million by the end of the year in that department.

From 2023 through 2024, the county experienced an 83.8% increase in its bulk water costs. It paid $980,827 for bulk water in 2024. It paid $158,793 in contracted services, which was a 13.6% increase over the previous year.

The county’s biggest providers of water are, in order, Niles, Warren, Newton Falls and Youngstown.

Bernard questioned when the county’s sanitary department first approached the commissioners about a rate increase.

Gary Newbrough noted it was in 2021 when he asked for a rate study. He returned in 2022 after the rate study was completed.

Maiorano said it was brought up again in 2023.

Hernandez said something needs to be done.

“We can’t go broke,” he said. “We’re going to have to do something. Our residents need to be prepared for something. If we do nothing, then we will go bankrupt. We don’t want our water department going bankrupt.”

Malloy said the county cannot go into fiscal emergency.

“With the economic development projects that are on the table and the people who are investing billions in our valley, we can’t have a deficit in health care,” he said. “We can’t have a deficit in our taxes. We can’t have a deficit in county services provided.

“Right now, we have a lot of big businesses on the bubble,” Hernandez said. “We are reeling them in here. They are breaking ground and the last thing we need is for this board or any government to put ourselves into fiscal emergency or fiscal watch. We can do the right thing and avoid that.”

Bernard questioned why these things were not done two years ago. However, Malloy said this is the board that must fix the problems.